In Darmstadt, Germany, European Space Agency (ESA) teams are scrambling to confirm contact with the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM), Schiaparelli—the spectre of Philae still haunting the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). Whether or not ESA ever speak to Schiaparelli again, the risky business of space robotics is once more laid bare.

UPDATE: ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The signal confirming the successful touchdown arrived on Earth at 16:03 GMT (17:03 CET), it’s the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved and it’s a great milestone for space exploration and Europe.

Astrodrone is both a simulation game app for the Parrot AR.Drone and a scientific crowd-sourcing experiment that aims to improve landing, obstacle avoidance and docking capabilities in autonomous space probes.

As researchers at the European Space Agency’s Advanced Concepts Team, we wanted to study how visual cues could be used by robotic spacecraft to help them navigate unknown, extraterrestrial environments. One of our main research goals was to explore how robots can share knowledge about their environments and behaviors to speed up this visual learning process.

ESA is organizing the first robotic competition on a mock-up of the International Space Station (ISS). The competition is open for young people from ESA member states who can compete in three age groups between 11 and 19 years old. The regulations leave a lot of room for innovation and creative freedom, practically only safety requirements are imposed.